The Bartender and His Customer: A Series of Drabbles
by adamsforthought
Summary: Modern AU for Anna and Bates, loosely based on their S1 and S2 courtship. Bates is a bartender in New York City, and Anna is a graduate student and a frequent customer. Each chapter is an opposing, parallel pair of 100-word drabbles.
1. The Bartender & The Customer

**A/N: Apparently "drabble" technically means exactly 100 words? So I took it upon myself to try a little writing exercise...**

**The first pair may look familiar to those on Tumblr… And it's only a 3-chapter deal, at least for now. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>The Bartender<strong>

She keeps returning for the smile of a man with sad eyes and deep laugh lines. He takes nothing for granted, appreciating every minutiae of life's pleasures. She finds her respite here, away from a world of Moments whizzing by in fiber-optic cables.

"Don't you have friends your own age?" He wipes down the bar. "It's a Friday night."

"I like it here."

He smirks and passes her the cider. She thinks — hopes — he might not let her pay.

But he takes her money. Then, with a smile, the man turns and serves the boys on the other side.

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><p><strong>The Customer<strong>

He is constantly on the lookout for her laugh. She often tries to restrain it, as though she fears letting it all out at once, but its essence is inextinguishable, its escape inevitable. She can't help but find humor in everything. With her, even his grimy, stale world takes on a new light.

"Do you _ever _get out from behind the bar?"

"You've found me out. The waiters feed me from the kitchen, and I sleep in that corner every night."

"Like a puppy," she jokes. He can feel the laughter building.

"Woof."

The laugh comes, and he is content.


	2. Outside & Inside

**Outside**

She catches him outside, smoking.

He smiles a greeting, but she is remembering her father's cough – his blackened, shriveled lungs.

"It's better than whiskey," he remarks lightly, sadly.

For a moment, she watches her pale breath mingle with his dark smoke.

She walks past him.

The heavy thud makes her turn. He has tumbled down, his cane far from his grasp and the cigarette smoldering by his head. Laughing, a teenage boy runs away.

She helps him up. Her hand, on his – something flutters.

But he pushes her away. "Please, don't pity me."

She doesn't pity him. She loves him.

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><p><strong>Inside<strong>

His resistance to temptation was his one pride. Surrounded by clinking bottles, he's kept it at bay. But through her horrified eyes, he sees he's only traded one demon for another.

She offers a helping hand. For a moment, he clutches at it.

But he will not yield to this temptation. He must not pluck the bloom off the ground – must let it be.

Back inside, he focuses on her laughs again.

"I don't believe it."

"It's true," he confides. "He was quite the comedy sensation."

Together, they peer over and laugh.

He doesn't deserve her. He loves her anyway.


	3. The Absence & The Wait

**The Absence**

She stops going. The excuse is final exams, but really it's fear of her growing dependence on his smile.

Summer begins, and she has her own gray cubicle on the opposite coast. She gets a peek of a skyline and the hum of an espresso machine to comfort her. It's not enough.

It turns cool, and she returns to the bustling, howling city. But still she delays, just to prove she can. And she thinks he will have forgotten. Worse, he might remember, and keep the smile from her.

It's much later that she realizes: she could never forget him.

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><p><strong>The Wait<strong>

She stops coming. He thinks he might go mad, his mind spinning a wheel sinking deeper into a dustier, colder, grayer world.

He imagines she's found new people, places, a life – out there among the bustling, whirling multitudes. Sometimes, though, it's easier instead to believe in a horrible, fatal accident; there is comfort in its tragedy, a wish unfulfilled – quashed by Fate, but not her.

Then she's back, framed by the first rays of sunlight he's seen in too long. He has dreaded this moment – has longed for it.

A thousand words flood his brain, but only one escapes.

"Hello."

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><p><strong>AN: The End! I leave the rest up to your imagination. **

**Thanks to everyone who encouraged me on Tumblr, starting from that first standalone "drabble" that quickly turned into a pair of actual drabbles.**


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